


Spanish Lessons

by khaki_da



Series: Bluepulse fics [7]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bluepulse, Coming Out, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Homophobia, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, family homophobia, is 15k long enough to call it a slow burn? idek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 00:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15158669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaki_da/pseuds/khaki_da
Summary: Bart tries to teach himself Spanish in order to get closer to Jaime and his family. When Jaime catches him studying, Bart lies and says he's failing his Spanish class. Naturally, Jaime offers to tutor Bart, and how could Bart say no to that?





	Spanish Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> Khaji talking to jaime [looks like this.] Jaime talking to khaji in his head < looks like this. > This is mostly from Bart's pov, so you don't have to understand the spanish that's written, since Bart doesn't understand it. Still, I'll put translations at the end if you're curious. 
> 
> I wrote this for the young justice mini big bang event on tumblr! @fanaticalferret-art will be posting art to go along with it, so keep a look out for that :)
> 
> shout out to @pikafuck over on tumblr for literally coming up with half the ideas for this fic! 
> 
> also thanks so much to @fanaticalferret, @nightwinggirl42 and @tamlins-stories-and-poems for looking at this for me before I posted it!

Bart woke up in the team’s medical bay, sore as hell and too disoriented to make sense of what had happened. Not exactly how he pictured he would be spending his saturday evening. He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, but he was vaguely aware that his best friend was yelling at him for some reason. He couldn’t understand any of the words Jaime was saying, but he sounded angry. It might have been a little scary if Bart wasn’t so out of it. 

_ Why would Jaime be mad at him? _

Bart had never heard Jaime like this before. His voice was desperate, and it sounded like he might have been crying. Bart finally opened his eyes and tried to focus on his friend. He blinked a few times to adjust to the light in the room. 

_ Why was Jaime crying? _

_ “Gracias a dios!” _ Jaime practically leapt forward to hug Bart the moment he opened his eyes, but stopped himself before touching him. Then he quickly wiped his face with his sleeve, and reached for Bart’s hand, but stopped himself again. Jaime ended up sitting back down and folding his hands in his lap, unsure of what to do with them. For once, Bart was grateful to not be hugged. That would have  _ hurt _ . He wouldn’t have minded the hand holding, though… 

Bart groaned as he tried to sit up. “I guess I did something really moded to make you mad at me, huh?” 

The details of what happened were still a bit murky, but how else would he have ended up in this situation?

Jaime slumped in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. 

“I’m not mad, you just… you scared the shit out of me,  _ compa _ , but I’m not mad at you.” 

Suddenly Jaime’s words made sense again. It occurred to Bart then that Jaime had been speaking spanish up until now. No wonder Bart didn’t understand him before. 

“Oh, I thought you were yelling at me.” Bart still wasn’t sure he was lucid enough to trust what he heard.

“Sorry, I… I kind of was. I didn’t think you were awake.” Jaime chewed on his lip for a moment before finishing his thought. “I guess I kind of freaked out. You could have d- you could have…” he trailed off again and cleared his throat. “Nevermind. Sorry for yelling at you. Just, please,  _ ten cuidado _ , okay?” 

“Okay.” Bart nodded, even though he had no idea what ‘ten cuidado’ meant. He made a quick mental note to teach himself some spanish. 

_ “Be careful.” _ Jaime emphasized, apparently seeing right through Bart’s act of pretending to understand. 

“Okay, I will.” Bart smiled, “I didn’t know you cared about me that much, hair-man-oh.” 

“What? Of course I care, Bart.” Jaime reached for Bart’s hand again, this time he squeezed it without hesitation. 

Bart was too out of it to hide a lofty smile, and too drugged up on pain meds to stay awake. 

“Buenos nachos,” Bart mumbled, pulling Jaime’s hand under his cheek. He rested his face on Jaime’s hand like it was a pillow, and drifted off to sleep with a smile. 

Jaime laughed. From the looks of it, that hand was the comfiest thing in the world. 

_ “Buenas noches.” _

 

…

 

The next time Bart woke up, he was coherent enough to remember what had happened. Unfortunately, he was also now coherent enough to  _ feel _ it. He felt like he’d been crushed– well, he kind of had been. If his memory was correct, he saved quite a few people before a building went down, but Jaime was definitely right. He could have been more careful. He’d already healed up a good amount, but even with his healing factor, it would probably be at least another couple of weeks before he was back to 100%. 

Before he could feel too sorry for himself, Jaime showed up again, this time with food. Apparently, that was one of the of the perks of being injured. Someone was always coming around to keep him company or bring him food. Usually it was Jaime, sometimes Barry.

Bart would most likely be out of commission from heroing for a few weeks, but it only took him a couple of days to heal up enough to go home or to wander around the base freely. Bart still didn’t have a secret ID, so he wasn’t in school– not that he was complaining about that– but with nothing to do, he found himself getting painfully bored. 

Bart figured now was as good a time as any to make some progress on that not-so-lucid promise he made to himself to learn spanish, since he had actually been wanting to learn for a while now. Without giving it anymore thought, he bought a subscription to the first language learning software that came up in a google search: Rosetta Stone. He put on his headphones, got out a pen and notebook to take notes, and got to work. 

Bart kept having to repeat the same parts because he just wasn’t absorbing anything. It was like the information was all going in one ear and out the other. It had been a couple of hours of not learning before he sleepily closed the laptop and rested his head on the desk in the base’s lounge. 

_ Recognized: Blue Beetle, B22 _

Bart woke up to the feeling of a hand gently nudging his shoulder. 

“Hey,  _ compa _ . Do you need some help getting home? You might sleep better in a bed.” Jaime joked. 

Bart stretched out in his chair and yawned. “I’m all good. I need the exercise anyways. What time is it?”

Jaime frowned, “You really shouldn’t be running,” then he glanced behind his shoulder before answering the question, “it’s 9:36.” 

“You can use Khaji Da as a watch? That’s so crash!” 

“I mean, he can hack the world’s most secure computer systems, but yeah, telling the time is pretty crash, too.” Jaime smiled, then finally noticed Bart’s papers splayed out on the desk he’d been sleeping on. “Spanish homework?” 

“Homework? No…” 

Apparently, the fact that Bart wasn’t in school had never come up in conversation before. When Jaime gave Bart a curious look, he clumsily slapped the notebook shut, realizing then that he didn’t exactly want to tell Jaime why he was trying to learn Spanish. 

What was he supposed to say?  _ Jaime, I noticed you speak spanish when you’re upset or vulnerable and I want to be able to understand you so I can help without making you have to explain it for me? _

Nope, Bart definitely couldn’t tell Jaime  _ that _ .

“Not homework. I have a, uhh…” Bart snapped his fingers, trying to remember the word, “a test! A really really big test. The biggest test! I’m trying to study for it. I’m failing right now, so, I kinda have to ace it to pass.”

“You mean a midterm?”

“Yeah! That’s the word!” 

“When is it?” 

“Uhhhhhhhhh next friday.” Bart lied.

“That’s coming up! You need a tutor or something? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m pretty good at spanish.” Jaime grinned. 

It wasn’t exactly what Bart had in mind, but who could argue with free Spanish lessons,  _ and _ an excuse to spend more time with Jaime? Not Bart Allen, that’s who. It was a win-win. 

“That would be so crash!” Bart squeezed Jaime in a tight hug. 

“Cool. I’m free after school most days,” Jaime said after Bart released him, “want to come over tomorrow?”

“Si, may-es-troh.” Bart regurgitated one of the few things he’d learned from his few hours with Rosetta Stone. 

“ _ Maestro. _ ” Jaime emphasized the correct pronunciation, “I hope they don’t grade you on your accent, or we have a lot more work to do than I thought.” Jaime laughed. “For now, though, let’s get you home.”

The two of them made their way to the zeta tube and zeta-ed to Keystone, where Bart was staying with Jay and Joan. Jaime picked Bart up and flew him over to the house so he wouldn’t have to run, and even though Bart insisted that he could have gotten home on his own, he was not at all upset by this particular method of transportation.

 

…

 

Bart heard that most schools let out around 3pm, and he figured it might take Jaime about a half hour to get home on the bus. Bart still didn’t understand why Jaime took the bus home when he could fly. It made no sense. 

Bart was eager to get to Jaime’s, so he ran over right at 3:30. 

After the run, Bart took a minute at the door to catch his breath and regain his composure. Jaime was right once again, it was way too soon for him to be running. Despite his aching body, Bart forced himself to stand up straight before he knocked at the door, extra careful not to knock too fast, since Jaime was all secretive about their powers for some reason. 

When the door opened, it wasn’t Jaime who answered it, but an older woman. Jaime mentioned that his grandma was in town, so Bart figured that’s who he was looking at.

“Hi! I’m Bart, Jaime’s friend.” He held his hand out for a handshake, which was something Jaime had taught him people from the past did when they met for the first time. 

“Ah,  _ Barr! _ ” She exclaimed, rolling the ‘r’ and missing the ‘t.’ She took Bart’s hand and pulled him in for a hug, then kissed him on the cheek the same way Jaime’s mom did whenever she greeted him. “ _ Mucho gusto! _ ” Then she opened the door and walked inside, waving for him to follow. 

She gestured for Bart to sit down on the couch and asked him a question in Spanish that Bart didn’t understand. Bart just smiled and nodded sheepishly as he sat down, and Jaime’s grandma left for the kitchen. He was grateful to be finally sitting, since his everything was still really hurting. 

Jaime’s grandma came back into the room with some water for Bart. Either she could tell that he was tired from running, or she was just being nice. If she was anything like Jaime’s mom, it was probably both. 

“Gracias.” Bart said in his best Spanish accent. “Is Jaime home yet?”

She answered in a few sentences, but Bart only understood the first word: ‘no.’ He felt bad for not being able to communicate better with her. Yet another motivation for Bart to learn Spanish.

“Oh, um, okay. Do you know where he is?” Luckily, Jaime’s grandma understood english better than Bart understood Spanish. 

“En eschool.” She said in spanglish, slowly, so Bart could understand. 

“Still?” Bart didn’t leave until 3:30, so Jaime should have been back by now. He checked the time on his phone…. It was 1:36. “Shit…” He forgot about the time difference. 

Jaime’s grandma’s sweet smile was suddenly nowhere to be found as she gave him a look like he’d just spat in her face. Bart tensed up as he realized his mistake.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m sorry! I mean– lo siento, señora.” Bart wanted to disappear into the couch. He showed up two hours early,  _ and _ he somehow managed to piss off the nicest lady in the world by cursing. 

After several excruciating seconds, she laughed and waved her arm as if to say ‘don’t worry about it.’ 

Bart laughed nervously. Then she came and sat down on the couch with him and picked up the remote. “ _ Te gustas Rebelde? _ ” 

Bart smiled and nodded, no idea what it was that she asked him. 

 

… 

 

Jaime wasn’t particularly fond of studying, but he actually looked forward to tutoring Bart. For one, seeing Bart somewhere other than the watchtower’s medical bay would be nice. Every time Jaime visited Bart  _ there _ , he was reminded of the fact that his best friend almost died right in front of him. The faster Bart recovered, the faster Jaime could stop worrying about him. 

Jaime wouldn’t want Bart to know he was still thinking about that, so he shook it off as the bus dropped him off. He walked home faster than usual. Honestly, he was excited for things to go back to normal with Bart. Well, as normal as things could get with someone like Bart - meaning, at the very least, no more hospitals. 

When he walked inside his house, he was surprised to see Bart already there, sitting on the couch with his abuela, watching a telenovela. A tissue box was sitting in between them, and Bart’s nose was red and puffy, like he’d been crying. 

Jaime took a mental photograph of the hilarious scene. He couldn’t help but smile.  _ Of course _ Bart would get sucked into the drama of telenovelas.

“Hola, abuelita. Hey, Bart.” Jaime made his way over to his abuela and gave her a quick hug and a cheek kiss. He noticed that she had put english subtitles on the tv for Bart. 

“Hola,  _ mijo _ .” She answered, and Bart waved. 

“Looks like you started your Spanish lesson early, huh?” Jaime laughed. “You ready?” 

“Can we just finish this episode?” Bart pleaded. 

Jaime rolled his eyes and sat in between Bart and his abuela. One episode turned into several, and by the time they realized that they should start studying, Jaime’s parents had already gotten home and it was apparently dinner time. His mom and abuela, of course, insisted that Bart stay to eat with them. 

Jaime loved spending time with Bart, but he felt guilty to admit that he didn’t love when Bart joined them for dinner. Jaime’s mom and his little sister(and apparently his abuela, too) loved Bart, but his dad was another story. It wasn’t that his dad  _ didn’t _ like Bart, he was just sort of weird with him. Bart’s presence seemed to make him uncomfortable, and he’d scoff or clear his throat whenever Bart got too close to Jaime. Bart was just a touchy guy, and Jaime’s dad made it clear to Jaime that he found the touching inappropriate. He commented on the fact that he thought Bart was gay on more than one occasion– he was  _ right _ , but Jaime wasn’t about to let his dad know that. To make matters worse, Bart was always completely oblivious to the growing tension. Jaime, on the other hand, couldn’t stand it. 

In order to shorten the time for awkwardness, Jaime quickly scarfed down his food. So did Bart, but that was how he always ate. 

“Can we be excused? _ ”  _ Jaime asked as soon as his plate was empty. “Bart and I have to get some studying in before it gets too late.” He ignored the horrified look on Bart’s face–he was  _ not _ ready to stop eating– and waited for an answer from his parents. 

As soon as they were excused, Jaime pulled a reluctant Bart away from the table and to his room. Jaime sat on the edge of the bed and Bart plopped himself down on the chair at Jaime’s desk. 

“What was that about?” Bart asked. “I’m not really in a rush to go home, we could have stayed out there.”

“I know. Sorry, it’s just… it’s my dad. He gets weird sometimes. We can get more food later, if you’re still hungry?”

“Oh… He doesn’t like me very much, does he?” Bart slumped a little in his seat, surprisingly ignoring the prospect of more food. 

“It’s not that. He’s, you know, kind of old fashioned.”

Bart tilted his head to the side, confused. “You know I’m from the future, right? I don’t exactly know what that means right now.”

“He just… he gets kind of uncomfortable with two guys being so close, I guess.”

“What do you mean? You’re really close with other guys, too, like Tye and Paco, right?”

“Yeah, but…” Jaime sighed and let himself fall backwards so he was laying down on the bed. He stared at the ceiling with his feet dangling off the edge. “Tye and Paco don’t act like you. Not that there’s anything wrong with the way you act! It’s just, my dad doesn’t really like seeing another guy being so touchy with me, if that makes sense.”

Jaime didn’t sit back up to see Bart’s reaction, because he was afraid he might have hurt his feelings. There was a pause for a few moments before Bart answered. 

“Do you want me to stop? Being touchy, I mean.” His voice sounded a lot softer than normal. 

“No. I don’t mind it at all.” Jaime answered without giving it a second thought. “Maybe just, a little less in front of my dad?” 

Jaime felt the bed shift next to him as Bart laid down on his side, propping his head up on his elbow, smiling softly at Jaime. “Just in front of your dad? I can do that.”

For some reason, the way Bart was looking at him made Jaime’s heart quicken. 

[You need to relax, Jaime Reyes. There is no threat to us in this vicinity.]

“I know that! I mean - um, thanks,  _ compa _ . So, uh, we should probably start studying, right?” Jaime quickly got up and cleared his throat, ready to finally get started.

“Uh, right. Yeah, we should.” Bart got up, too, and made his way back to the desk chair, visibly less eager than Jaime. 

It was then that Jaime realized Bart hadn’t brought anything with him. No backpack, books, homework, or anything for him to work with. 

“Don’t you have a textbook or a study guide or something? What exactly is it that you need to know for the midterm?” Jaime asked.

“Not really. Um, Spanish? Everything, I guess.” Bart’s hands started fidgeting like he was uncomfortable. 

“Alright, well, how much do you already know?”

“Uhh,” Bart looked down at his feet, thinking, “not a lot. I know some words?” 

[The Bart Allen is hiding something, Jaime Reyes.] 

_ <He’s probably just embarrassed. Don’t be judgy.> _

“Okay, do you know conjugations?” Jaime tried to soften his voice a little so that Bart wouldn’t feel ashamed regardless of his answer. 

“I don’t know anything.” Bart said quietly, “I’m sorry, maybe this was a bad idea.” 

“No,  _ está bien! _ I just needed a starting point. We can start with conjugations.” Jaime put a hand on Bart’s shoulder and squeezed it softly, hoping that Bart wouldn’t bolt. Bart tended to do that when he got uncomfortable or embarrassed. Plus, Jaime really didn’t want him to hurt himself even more by running. 

Jaime spent the next hour or so trying to explain conjugations. When Bart looked like he might fall asleep any minute, Jaime flew him to the nearest zeta tube, then flew him home.

“You ran over today, didn’t you?” Jaime asked as they landed.

Bart nodded.

“ _ Ay _ , Bart, please don’t do that until you’re better. You could have gotten hurt.” Jaime scolded, failing to mask the concern in his voice. “I’ll just come get you tomorrow, okay?” 

“You mean you’ll…  _ pick me up? _ ” Bart grinned, way too happy with his shitty pun. Jaime wanted to still be annoyed with Bart for being reckless, but Bart’s pun-face was downright impossible to stay mad at.

“No, Bart… I’m gonna give you a  _ lift _ .” Jaime rolled his eyes at himself. He really couldn’t keep from making such a Bart-like joke. That boy was starting to rub off on him. 

“Good one, Jaime!” Bart slapped his knee and laughed a little too hard for the pun that it was. “Thanks again for helping me. G’nite!” He gave Jaime a quick hug before zipping inside, not bothering to use the door. 

 

...

 

Bart came over to Jaime’s to study every day that week. He didn’t understand how people could do this for 7 hours a day. Even with the crashiest (and cutest) tutor in the world, Bart had trouble staying focused for more than five minutes! Although, the cuteness probably didn’t help much with the whole staying focused thing. Ah, the struggle of crushing on a straight guy. 

By day three, they were still working on conjugations, and Bart couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by how slowly he was picking this up. No matter how many times Jaime explained the same things, the information just wouldn’t stick. Why wasn’t he getting this?

“Bart,  _ me estás escuchando?”  _ It didn’t help that Jaime started speaking Spanish more and more now, like he expected Bart to already understand this stuff, and he probably should by now, but he just didn’t. 

“Are you listening?” Jaime repeated in english. 

“Yeah, totally listening.” Bart lied, and sunk deeper into the chair. Jaime probably thought he was so stupid. 

Jaime looked slightly annoyed. “You sure? I kind of feel like I’m talking to myself, here.” 

“I’m sorry, Jaime, I think I need a break.” Bart closed his notebook in defeat. Before Jaime could answer, Bart was gone. 

Bart knew Jaime wouldn’t approve of him running, and it would no doubt prolong his recovery time, but running was what Bart  _ did _ . It was the best way he knew to avoid conflict, and Bart was embarrassed, so as usual, he tried to outrun his insecurities. Even though it hurt like hell, he ran all the way home, where those insecurities inevitably caught up to him. Bart threw himself on his bed and shouted his frustrations into his pillow. 

For someone so fast, he hated how  _ slowly _ he picked things up. He just couldn’t keep wasting Jaime’s time like this when he wasn’t even going to learn anything. 

Once Bart calmed down, he picked up his phone to text Jaime. He wanted to say sorry. He wanted to tell Jaime how much he truly appreciated all the effort that Jaime put into helping him, even if it was all a lie. More than anything, he wanted to confess that Jaime was doing this all for nothing, and that there was no school. There was no mid-term. He wanted to tell Jaime everything, but he didn’t say any of that. 

_ Bart: Hey, Jaime. Sorry I left. Thanks for trying to help me, but you shouldn’t waste your time. I’m just not smart enough to learn this _

After hitting ‘send,’ Bart rolled over in bed. Jaime was probably mad at him for bolting in the middle of a lesson, so he wasn’t really expecting a response. He closed his eyes, ready to call it a night. Before long, though, his phone buzzed. 

_ Jaime: you are not a waste of time. I’m really sorry I snapped at you.  _

Bart stared at his phone, confused. In the future Bart came from, he was used to a lot worse kinds of ‘snapping’ from Blue Beetle. Despite himself, the corner of Bart’s mouth twitched in a half-smile. If that was what Jaime called snapping, Bart would be okay with that. Before he could think of a proper response, he got another text.

_ Jaime: are you okay though? Did you make it home safe? _

_ Bart: thanks Jaime, and yeah don’t worry I’m okay _

Bart felt a ping of guilt for making Jaime worry, so he didn’t bother telling him how much he was hurting from the run.

_ Jaime: can we meet up again tomorrow? We can try working somewhere different this time, if you want. I have an idea _

_ Bart: do we have to study? _

_ Jaime: I just want to try something. If it doesn’t work we don’t have to study anymore _

_ Bart: ok. can you give me a lift? ^.^ _

_ Jaime: I’ll pick you up after school ;) _

The next day, Jaime showed up at Bart’s place not long after he got out of school. Bart saw him flying through his window, so he made it to the door before Jaime even knocked. He opened the door to see Jaime suiting down, he was carrying a backpack.

“Want to just stay here today?” Bart asked. He didn’t really feel like going anywhere.

“Sure.” Jaime answered, and the two of them went inside and sat down at the kitchen table. Jaime put his backpack on the table and started opening it.

“So, what’s your big ‘make Bart smart’ idea?” Bart asked, eyeing the backpack.

Jaime frowned. “Stop that. You  _ are _ smart, okay? I think I was going about this wrong, though. I was trying to teach you how  _ I _ like to be taught, but you’re not me.” He opened up his backpack and pulled out some chewing gum, a bluetooth speaker, and a small gadget that bart didn’t recognize. Bart just stared and waited for an explanation. 

“Have you ever heard of ADHD?” Jaime asked. 

Bart shook his head no. 

“Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Me and Khaji Da did some research last night, and we think you might have that. So we looked up some ways to make studying easier for you.” Jaime turned on the bluetooth speaker and connected it to his phone to play some music quietly in the background. “Let’s see if you can concentrate better with some background noise.”

Jaime handed Bart the little gadget. “This is a fidget spinner. You can spin it while you listen. Apparently it can help with focus if you have something to do with your hands. And that’s also what the gum is for. Sometimes chewing on something can help you focus, too. This way all you’re energy isn’t going into just one thing, and it’ll hopefully feel less boring. And if you ever get stuck on something or you get frustrated, we can take a little break.” 

Jaime inhaled sharply when he was finished, since he’d apparently gotten that whole spiel out in one breath. Bart took the ‘fidget spinner’ and gave it a few spins with a big smile on his face. Then he put it down, and gave Jaime the biggest hug he could manage. 

“This is so crash! You’re the best, Jaime. Thank you so much.”

 

… 

 

The rest of the week went by quickly. Bart didn’t have nearly as much trouble focusing anymore, but he did still have a bit of a hard time retaining the information he learned. When monday came around, Bart came over to Jaime’s again.

Jaime’s parents had a date night on mondays, and Milagro was at a friend’s house, so Bart and Jaime had the place to themselves. Instead of studying right away, they decided they should reward themselves for their efforts the previous week by playing mario kart. They told themselves that they would study after a few rounds, but just like the first night, dinner time came before study time. 

They ordered pizza, since neither of them were very skilled in the kitchen. Jaime was in absolutely no rush to study. He had done enough school work lately, since he had his own classes to worry about on top of Bart’s Spanish lessons. Pizza and video games were much more appealing right now. Still, if Bart decided he’d rather study, then Jaime would focus on that, instead. He had promised to help, after all. Luckily, though, Bart didn’t seem to be in any rush to be productive, either. 

Finally, around 8pm, Bart suggested that they get some studying in through a yawn. 

“You sure? You look like you’re about to crash.”

“I’m already crash.” Bart smirked. 

Jaime rolled his eyes, but smiled anyways. There was only one chair for the desk in Jaime’s room, so they brought their stuff to the coffee table in the living room so they could both sit on the couch. They settled down on the couch, and put the tv on quietly, since Bart focused better with background noise. Unfortunately, he did not focus better when Rebelde was on, so they ended up watching a couple of episodes before eventually just deciding to turn it off. 

Jaime handed Bart his notebook, finally ready to study. Before he got to say much of anything, though, he found himself supporting added weight. Almost all of Bart’s body weight, to be exact. Jaime turned his head to see Bart leaning on him, somehow already sound asleep. 

Jaime realized then that it was after 1am on a school night where Bart was from. No wonder he was so tired. Jaime suddenly felt really guilty for keeping Bart up so late without helping him with Spanish at all. 

Jaime stared at Bart, trying to decide if he should wake him up to go home. Since Bart was usually going a million miles a minute, Jaime was almost surprised to see him so calm and quiet. Jaime decided it should be a crime to wake someone who looked so peaceful, so he carefully picked up his sleeping friend and carried him into his room, where he gently laid Bart down on his bed. Jaime made sure to lay Bart’s head on a pillow, then he pulled a blanket over him, and made a bed for himself on the floor with an extra blanket and pillow. 

[Sleeping on the floor is ineffectual, Jaime Reyes. You will not properly rest on this surface.] 

“I’ll be fine, Khaji.” Jaime said as he laid down on the floor.

[The Bart Allen is diminutive, and leaves sufficient room for resting. You must sleep on the bed, Jaime Reyes. Sleeping conditions on this surface are unfavorable.]

Jaime ignored Khaji Da and rolled over on the floor, trying to find a comfortable position. Of course, Khaji Da was  _ right _ , but that didn’t mean that Jaime was going to sleep on the bed.

 

…

 

Khaji Da woke Jaime up for school the next day. Jaime no longer needed an alarm, since Khaji could just wake him up whenever he needed. It was a much more peaceful start to the day than some clock screaming in his face. Khaji Da could provide a surprisingly smooth transition from sleep. Despite the gentle awakening, Jaime woke up with a terrible crick in his neck. 

[I warned you that these were not optimal sleeping conditions, Jaime Reyes.] Khaji scolded, sounding rather annoyed. 

Jaime rubbed his neck and sighed. He noticed that Bart was still sound asleep. He was laying face down, splayed out on the bed over the covers, with one leg hanging off the side. Jaime was suddenly grateful he hadn’t taken Khaji Da’s advice. Bart must have been a really restless sleeper. 

Jaime threw his blanket off himself and rushed over to the bed as soon as he remembered the time difference. Bart was probably already late to school!

“Bart,  _ despiértate _ !” Jaime whispered as he nudged Bart’s arm. 

Bart groaned and rolled over so he was facing away from Jaime. 

“Bart, you have to get up! It’s past 8:30 your time.”

Bart pulled the blanket over his face and mumbled something incomprehensible. 

Jaime grabbed the blanket and pulled, but Bart held on tight. He was a lot stronger than he looked. 

“Five more minutes…” Bart murmured. 

“Aren’t you already late for school?” Jaime asked, finally able to yank the blanket away. 

“What?” Bart squinted at Jaime like he was speaking another foreign language. “Did I fall asleep here?”

“Yeah, you fell asleep the minute we tried to study.” Jaime held back a chuckle. Not the right time for joking. “Do you have a late start today or something? Doesn’t school start at like 8?”

Bart’s mouth dropped as he realized what Jaime was talking about, and his words starting coming out way too fast. “Oh, right, school! The place they teach Spanish! The subject I’m failing since I’m really bad at it, yes! You’rerightIhavetogotoschoolgottagobye!” 

“Wait! Don’t -” Jaime started, but Bart was already gone, “run…” 

Jaime was left standing next to the bed, more confused than anything. 

[The Bart Allen’s actions are cause for suspicion. He is hiding something, Jaime Reyes.]

“Why do you have to be so suspicious of everyone all the time?” Jaime shook his head, unconvinced, “Bart wouldn’t lie to me.” 

[Incorrect, Jaime Reyes. The Bart Allen has a history of deception.]

“That was before. He had to lie then, but he came clean about the future. He wouldn’t hide something from me unless he had a good reason. I trust him, okay?” 

Jaime did have to admit that Bart was acting a bit strange lately, but then again, when was he not? Bart was a lot of things, but he wasn’t untrustworthy, Jaime knew that much for sure. 

 

…

 

Later that day, Bart and Jaime decided to study at the library. Jaime had a lot of his own homework to do, and Bart figured Jaime could work on that while he did some solo studying. In all honesty, they didn’t really have to meet up today, since they were both studying separately, but it didn’t even occur to either of them to cancel their regularly scheduled after school meetup. When they got to the library, Jaime pulled out a big textbook from his backpack and handed it to Bart. 

“I didn’t know if they would have a good Spanish textbook here or not, so I checked this out from the library at my school.” 

“Thanks!” Bart enthusiastically took the book and set it down on the table in front of him. 

Jaime was a little worried that Bart would have trouble focusing in a quiet setting like the library. He hoped Bart would be able to study armed with only the fidget spinner, because Jaime had been putting his own homework off for way too long and he really needed to avoid any distractions. 

Jaime pulled out his pen, notebook and textbook and set them on the table, then sat down across from Bart. Just as he was about to get started, he heard Bart shut his book. 

“Everything okay?” Jaime asked, concerned.

“Oh, yeah, I finished it! Speedster, remember?” Bart pointed at himself with his thumbs when he said ‘speedster’ and gave Jaime a cheesy smile. 

“Wow, I guess I didn’t realize that applied to reading, too.” Jaime felt a little bad for not thinking about that. Bart would probably be so bored while Jaime did his homework since he already finished reading the entire textbook. 

“Yup! Pretty crash, huh? I mean, if I can’t use my speed to run I might as well use it for  _ something _ , right? I only ever read one other book before. Not a lot of reading material where I’m from,” Bart laughed a little awkwardly when he realized he was rambling, “so anyways, I’m gonna go read some of the other stuff here! Come find me when you’re done?”

“Okay,  _ que te diviertas.” _ Jaime grinned to himself, half-expecting Bart not to hear or understand.

“I will!” Bart responded as he disappeared into the nearest aisle of books. 

It was another couple of hours before Jaime finished what he wanted to get done today. When he was done, he packed up his stuff and started walking around, looking for Bart. 

Jaime eventually found him in the fantasy section, laying on the floor, his arms extended above his face flipping through a book, and his head resting on another book. There had to be an entire row of books scattered around him that he must have already finished. 

“I take it you like reading?” Jaime said to get Bart’s attention. 

“What?” Bart answered without taking his eyes off the book. He flipped through to the last page before putting it down and looking at Jaime. “Oh, yeah, books are crash!” 

Jaime smiled and helped Bart up. It was really nice to see Bart so happily absorbed in something. Once he was up, Bart quickly but carefully put back all of the books he’d taken from the shelves.

“Are you gonna check anything out?” Jaime asked. 

“I already checked out a lot of things. I read a lot of astronomy and sci-fi books and a few of the fantasy ones.” Bart answered. 

“No, I mean, are you going to check out a book to take home?” Jaime said. 

“I can do that?” Bart’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. 

“Of course, you can check out up to 10 books at a time as long as you bring them back within three weeks. Which I somehow don’t think will be a problem for you.” Jaime smirked. 

Jaime was surprised at how responsible Bart was being. Of all the books he could have checked out, every single one of them was in Spanish, and most of them were textbooks!

Bart read all of the books before going to bed that night. Surprisingly enough, he understood a lot more of them than he expected. He read all of the books again in the morning, just to make sure he still got it, and it all made sense! He actually retained all of the information he’d taken in the day before, it was the closest thing to a miracle Bart had experienced.

 

...

 

Bart was encouraged to start being more physically active as a part of his recovery, but he still wasn’t able to do anything at super speed yet. Since he was itching to move around, and because he liked to switch things up, he and Jaime studied at the gym in the watchtower the next day. 

Jaime started quizzing Bart while Bart jogged(at a human speed) on the treadmill. It was wednesday, two days before Bart was supposed to be taking his big test, he reminded himself. 

For once, Bart was getting all the answers right! Every question Jaime threw at him, Bart was able to handle. Honestly, Bart could have handled a lot harder questions after reading 6 Spanish textbooks with an apparently photographic memory, but he decided to keep that to himself. He knew if he told Jaime that there would be no purpose in continuing to ‘study,’ and Bart really enjoyed feeling this smart. He also  _ definitely _ enjoyed how impressed Jaime seemed to be with him right now. 

Bart was beaming. He felt like he was on top of the world. 

“ _ Oye, ¡que buen trabajo! _ ” Jaime said after a couple of hours of failing to stump Bart. 

“Gracias!” Bart answered. He knew his accent was still terrible, but he understood now! He could talk to Jaime’s grandma next time he saw her. Now he would be able to know what Jaime’s parents are gossiping about when they speak Spanish in front of him. Maybe he and Jaime could start doing that! They could tell each other secrets in Spanish in front of everyone, and no one would know what they were saying. Bart was so excited, he could barely contain himself. 

Jaime’s vibrating pocket brought Bart back to the present. Jaime pulled his buzzing phone out, and his smile faded, “it’s my dad.” He turned away to answer it.

Unfortunately Bart could only understand small bits and pieces of what Jaime was saying to his dad in Spanish. He did hear his own name, and got the general impression that Jaime’s dad had asked where Jaime was, and Jaime told him he was with Bart. He couldn’t understand much after that, but he could tell that Jaime was getting pretty stressed out. 

Spanish was so much faster in real life than Jaime made it seem when he was quizzing him.  Bart told himself that he just couldn’t understand because Jaime was turned away and not speaking very loudly. Plus, he was not really enunciating clearly. Maybe Bart would one day be able to speak Spanish like  _ that _ . He was a speedster, after all. Talking fast shouldn’t be a problem. 

“ _ Oye _ , Bart, my dad wants me to come home. Is it cool if I drop you off now?” Jaime’s whole vibe had changed, and he suddenly seemed to be in a really bad mood.

“It’s okay, I can just go home on my own from the zeta today.” Bart didn’t want Jaime to get in trouble for getting back too late, so he figured he could get himself home for once. 

“Are you sure?” Jaime frowned.

“Yeah, totally sure. I don’t want your dad to get all moded on you ‘cause of me. Don’t worry, I’ll  _ walk _ .” Bart gave Jaime a thumbs up, then waved him away.

“Okay, thanks,  _ carnal _ .” Jaime took a swig of his water bottle while Bart answered. 

“De nada,” Bart smiled, and attempted his first Spanish pun, “pero a mi te puedes coger mañana?”

“ _ What _ ?” Jaime choked, almost spitting out his water. His face and ears flushed red.

“Did I not say it right? I was trying to ask if you could pick me up tomorrow?” Bart said quickly, a bit embarrassed about his first unprompted attempt at a coherent sentence.

“Ohh!” Jaime burst out laughing. 

“What’s so funny?” Bart wondered if he’d accidentally said something offensive. Embarrassing as it was, at least it got Jaime to cheer up a little. 

“That means something different in Mexico,” Jaime managed to get out after calming down, “I guess the textbooks wouldn’t mention that. Sure, I can pick you up.” Jaime suited up and quickly flew to the zeta tube, letting out another giggle as the beam took him away.

 

… 

 

The walk home was excruciatingly  _ long _ . Bart tried to jog for a bit, but even at the horribly slow speed, jogging started to hurt. So, Bart resigned to walking, which was something he hated. He distracted himself from the agonizing slowness by thinking about Jaime. 

He wondered what Jaime was so stressed about over the phone. Bart hoped he wasn’t in trouble. Jaime’s dad didn’t seem to care for Bart much. Bart wondered if Jaime’s dad didn’t want them hanging out, but he really hoped that wasn’t what it was. Bart loved being around Jaime, he hated the hypothetical idea of Jaime’s dad not letting them hang out anymore. Maybe he was just overthinking things, though. Jaime’s mom and abuela both seemed to really love Bart, so he hoped that maybe his dad would come around, too. 

Bart really wanted to get Jaime’s dad to like him. He fantasized about getting good enough at Spanish to just pull it out one day with a perfect accent. Jaime’s dad would be so impressed, he’d probably like Bart if he could hold a conversation with him in Spanish, right? 

Bart decided that he was overthinking things. If Jaime’s dad really didn’t want them near each other, Jaime would have said something. Bart figured he might as well stop thinking about it and just ask, so he pulled out his phone to find out from the source.

_ Bart: everything ok with your dad? _

After a few agonizing minutes, the ‘typing’ ellipses showed up on Bart’s screen. Then they disappeared. Then they showed up again. It felt like Jaime was typing for forever, but when the ellipses disappeared, there was no message. Another minute or so passed before Jaime was typing again. Bart stared at his phone as he walked, but the ellipses disappeared again with no response. Bart waited a while, but the ellipses never showed back up. He blew out a huff of air. That probably wasn’t a good sign. 

Finally, Bart made it back home. As soon as he got to his room, he collapsed on the bed. He didn’t bother changing or even taking off his shoes. Who knew walking could be so exhausting? Granted, he had been jogging earlier, and it was the first time he’d really moved for such an extended period of time since the accident. Bart couldn’t imagine how frustrating it would be to have to heal slowly, without his healing factor.

Just as Bart closed his eyes, his phone started buzzing. He pulled it back out to see that Jaime was calling him. 

Bart answered right away. “Hey, what’s up, are you okay?” 

“Uhm,” Jaime took an uncomfortably long pause, “yeah, I’m okay. I just… I got in a little fight with my dad. It’s fine now, though.” Jaime’s voice sounded hoarse. Maybe that was from yelling?

“Oh…” Bart sat up against the wall so he could listen properly, “was it because of me?” 

Another uncomfortably long silence. 

“I don’t know, it was really more of my parents fighting with each other about me, well, mostly about me, but it was about you, too.” 

“Oh, sorry, Jaime, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. Why were they fighting about us?” Bart braced himself for Jaime to tell him that they couldn’t be friends anymore. 

“It’s okay, I’m not in trouble. It was really weird. They were fighting about me like I wasn’t there. They both apparently think that me and you are, like, a thing? And my dad was really not happy about it. I told them we’re just friends, but he thinks our relationship is… inappropriate.”

“Oh…” now it was Bart’s turn to take a moment of silence. Bart came out as gay to the team a while back. He was never exactly trying to hide it, but he expressly told everyone so that he could help out on Queen Bee missions. He had heard that some people from the past were really concerned about this kind of thing for some reason, but he hadn’t really had any problems with it until now. He never put it together before that it might be the reason why Jaime’s dad didn’t like him. “So, I’m guessing your dad isn’t supportive of… you know, that kind of thing?”

“No, he’s not.” Jaime sighed loud enough for Bart to hear over the phone. 

“Okay… I understand.” The lump in Bart’s throat made his voice crack, so he swallowed it. He hoped Jaime hadn’t noticed. “I guess… I should stop coming around, then?” 

“What? No, of course not! I told them we’re just friends, but that’s not even important. I’m sorry, I’m kind of beating around the bush. I called because I wanted to tell you something.”

“Ohmygosh, that’s a relief. I thought you were gonna tell me we couldn’t be friends anymore!” Bart let out a nervous laugh, then tried to compose himself again. “What did you want to tell me?” Bart leaned forward as if that would help him hear the phone better. 

“I, um… I just figured I should tell you, since you’re pretty much my best friend. It’s just - it’s kind of hard to say. Just, give me a second, yeah?” Bart heard Jaime’s shaky breathing through the speaker as he attempted to get out what he was trying to say. 

“Yeah, take your time. Whatever it is, you know you can tell me, okay?” 

“Okay… so here goes,” another shaky breath, “I’m bi.” 

“Really?” Bart said in a slightly higher-pitched voice than he’d meant to. He cleared his throat. “Did you tell your dad?” 

“Yep.” From Jaime’s tone, it probably wasn’t the perfect coming out story.

“What happened?” Bart asked. 

Jaime took a deep breath, and told Bart everything. Apparently, Jaime’s dad blamed Bart at first, but Jaime and his mom shut that down pretty quickly. After a long argument, Jaime’s dad sort of came around. He wasn’t exactly happy, but he wasn’t trying to fight about it anymore. Then, apparently, out of spite, Jaime told his dad that Bart was coming over the next day to study, and Jaime’s mom said that he should stay for dinner. Jaime’s dad miraculously didn’t say no.

Well then. This was going to be an interesting study session. 

 

…

 

Luckily, when Bart came over to Jaime’s house the next day, his parents weren’t home yet. 

“So the midterm is tomorrow, right?  _ Estás listo? _ ” Jaime’s voice sounded even more hoarse than the night before. 

“So ready!” Bart grinned. “Are you sick or something?” 

“According to Khaji Da, I’m not. Apparently it’s impossible for me to get sick with his robot antibodies fighting off germs, or something. But he’s gotta be wrong, because my head has been killing me, and my throat hurts.” He paused, then rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know you’re not a robot, it was a joke,  _ cabron _ .”

Bart laughed, “you guys cuss at each other, now?” 

Jaime shook his head and playfully rolled his eyes again. “Khaji doesn’t cuss. Hey, where’d you learn Spanish curse words?” 

“I watched a little of that telenovela on my own. It’s very educational.” Bart smirked. “Sooo, you’re obviously not feeling very crash right now, and I’m  _ ready _ for the test. Wanna blow off studying for one day?”  Bart was really looking forward to a break.

“You sure you’re ready? You don’t even want to study a little?” Jaime asked. 

“I’m ready,” Bart reassured Jaime, “but if it makes you feel better we can watch  _ Rebelde _ . Wow, that word does not roll off the tongue. Anyways, like I said, it’s very educational!” Bart batted his eyelashes to try to persuade Jaime to take a break from ‘studying.’ There wasn’t even a real test to study for, and Bart was left dangling by the cliffhanger on the last episode. He needed answers. 

“Fine, but we’re watching with Spanish subtitles this time, so you can read along in the right language.” Jaime smirked as if this might deter Bart, but it definitely didn’t. Bart had been using Spanish subtitles ever since he finished those books. The subtitles helped him catch up, since the actors were speaking way too fast for him to understand. Besides, english subtitles just didn’t have the same feeling behind it. He wanted to know what they were actually saying, not a translated version of it. 

“Sounds good to me!” After getting some snacks, they both made their way to Jaime’s room. They sat on the floor and leaned on the foot of Jaime’s bed while they watched the show. Bart purposefully sat close enough to Jaime so that their shoulders were touching. 

Bart found himself squeezing onto Jaime’s hand during a suspenseful scene. When the scene was over, though, Jaime didn’t let go, so Bart continued to hold on, too. They got through a few episodes holding hands before the door swung open. 

“ _ Por qué está cerrada la puerta _ ?” Jaime’s dad sounded like he was accusing them of something, but he spoke too quickly for Bart to understand anything other than the words ‘por qué.’

Jaime immediately pulled his hand away and stood up when the door opened, startled, as if he had been caught doing something wrong. 

“We - we were just watching TV.” Jaime stuttered.

Jaime’s dad looked at Jaime, then Bart, his expression was more annoyed than angry. “Keep the door open.” Then he walked away. Jaime paused the show.

“Sorry about him…” Jaime muttered when the coast was clear. 

“It’s okay. He’s just being protective.” Bart shrugged.

“What’s there to protect me from?  _ You _ ?” Jaime laughed, and playfully nudged Bart. 

“Hey! Is that supposed to be an insult?” Bart pretended to be offended.

They both laughed, then Jaime’s smile turned sweet as he looked at Bart. “Not at all. I’m just saying, I don’t think you would ever do anything to hurt me. So if he’s really just being  _ protective _ , he can stop.”

“You’re underestimating me, Jaime. I’m a bad influence. A real troublemaker.” Bart leaned closer to Jaime and gave him a flirty smirk. 

“You are not,” Jaime laughed and gave Bart another playful push before he got too close, “we literally just study every time we hang out. You’re a big softie nerd, embrace it.”

“Says the guy who turned into a  _ dentist _ when Eclipso tried to use your  _ deepest, darkest desires _ against you.” Bart laughed. If anyone was a ‘softie nerd,’ it was Jaime. “Who fantasizes about cleaning teeth?”

“Hey, dentists make six figures! I could put Milagro through college, pay off my parent’s mortgage, and…” Jaime blushed a little as Bart’s teasing grin grew wider, “okay, you may have a point…” 

“I do, and my point is that I’m the wildcard between the two of us. I could totally be a troublemaker if I wanted to!” Bart insisted.

“Admit it, Bart. You’re just like me.” Jaime shook his head, somehow managing to say the nicest words like he was making fun of Bart. “If you  _ wanted _ to, you couldn’t even hurt a fly.” 

“That’s not true! I  _ murder _ bugs! Maybe not on purpose, so I guess it’s technically manslaughter, but I still kill them! I do it all the time when I’m running. They never see me coming.” 

“Okay, that’s just nasty.” Jaime shivered to emphasize his disgust.

“The point is, I could be someone for your dad to be overprotective over you over me for- I mean -  you know what I mean.” Bart said at near super speed. 

“Hey, it’s a compliment,  _ tonto _ .” Jaime chuckled at how Bart automatically took it as a challenge. Then he put his hands on Bart’s shoulders, looking a little less playful and a little more sincere. “I trust you, okay? My dad should, too.” 

Bart looked away, suddenly feeling guilty for all the lying he’d been doing. Jaime  _ trusted _ him, and Bart lied. He had been dying to come clean the whole time, but he was so afraid that Jaime would be mad.

“Bart? What’s wrong?” Jaime asked, dropping his hands from Bart’s shoulders. 

“I, um…” Bart made himself look up at Jaime, “I have a confession, too.” It was only fair that Jaime knew. He couldn’t have Jaime believing that Bart was some saint. Bart was definitely capable of hurting Jaime, he was probably about to right now. God, he hated that so much.

“Hey, you can tell me anything, Bart, you know that, right?” 

Jaime being so supportive was just making this harder.

“Okay… well -” 

“ _ Primera llamada! _ ” Bart was interrupted by Jaime’s mom calling out from the kitchen. Bart had come to learn that this was the way Jaime’s family prepared for dinner. Primera llamada was ‘first call.’ It meant that food was almost ready. 

Jaime touched Bart’s arm to reassure him. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, I’m here for you.”

After a deep breath, Bart gathered up the courage to tell Jaime everything. 

“I haven’t been being completely honest with you.” He admitted. 

“What do you mean - Is it another future thing?” 

“No, Jaime, I -”

“ _ Segundo llamada _ !” Great. That meant Jaime was supposed to go help set the table. 

“I’m sorry, I have to go, but you can tell me after dinner, don’t worry about it for now, okay?” 

“I’ll help!” Bart hopped up, eager to shake it off and move on from the unfinished conversation. 

The boys made their way to the kitchen. “Hi, Mrs. Reyes!” Bart said as he and Jaime both gave her a quick hug and cheek kiss.

Bart had been here enough times that he knew what to do. He automatically started setting the table with silverware and napkins while Jaime helped his mom put food on the plates. When Bart came back into the kitchen, he overheard the tail end of a very interesting conversation. Jaime’s mom was speaking in Spanish, probably specifically because she thought Bart wouldn’t understand.

 

**(AN: conversations that take place completely in Spanish will be written in english so yall can understand. They’ll be italicized.)**

 

_ “Mamá, stop!”  _ Jaime whined. Bart came in and started pouring glasses of water for everyone. 

_ “I’m just saying, you should make a move, mijo. A boy like that is not going to be available forever!”  _ She winked at Jaime. Apparently, Jaime’s parents were not at all on the same page when it came to Jaime and Bart.

Bart was so caught off-guard by the comment that he dropped a glass. It didn’t break, but the water did spill everywhere. He hoped they didn’t catch on that he understood what she was saying. 

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m so clumsy!” Bart and Jaime grabbed at the same towel to try to clean up the water. Jaime blushed and awkwardly pulled his hand away when their fingers accidentally touched. Bart just grinned knowingly at Jaime and took the towel. Jaime probably figured that Bart understood at least some of that conversation. 

“‘ _ Sta bien, mijo.  _ It’s just water.  _ ¡Tercera llamada! _ ” She called out, loud enough to startle Bart from the contrast of how sweet her tone was a split second before.

Jaime’s dad and sister came out at the last call, and everyone grabbed their plates and sat down at the table. Bart, of course, sat next to Jaime. Milagro sat across from them, and his parents at both heads of the table. 

The dinner conversations went surprisingly smoothly for the most part. Milagro and Bart joked around a lot, and Jaime and his dad were both doing a great job of pretending there was nothing to air out. They all knew that peace could only last so long, though.

Jaime’s mom brought up their studies, and the fake midterm inevitably came up. Bart told himself this would be the last time he lied about it, he just wanted to brag about how great of a teacher Jaime was.

“I’m pretty sure I’m gonna ace this midterm tomorrow, thanks to Jaime!” Bart noticed that his comment made Jaime smile, so he kept going. He talked about what a great tutor Jaime has been, how creative he got with Bart’s learning style and how Jaime was able to help Bart with a breakthrough on how he learns things. He talked until he saw even Jaime’s dad crack a little smile. 

“... you should be really proud of Jaime. He’s an amazing tutor, and, like, the smartest person I know.” Bart could have sworn he saw Jaime blush a little. “Two weeks ago, I was failing, and now-”

“You’re failing?” Jaime’s dad interrupted, smile now nowhere to be found. Bart mentally cursed himself for bringing that up. It wasn’t even  _ true _ . He should have stopped talking while he was ahead.

“Um, I was, yeah, but Jaime’s been helping me, so I’m doing a lot better now.”

“You shouldn’t rely on someone else to bring your grades up. Jaime has his own studies to worry about, and it sounds like you’re being a bad influence on his grades.” Mr. Reyes said coldly. 

“ _ Alberto _ .” Jaime’s mom scolded.

“Sorry. I know, sorry, Mr. Reyes… sorry, Jaime.” Bart looked down, suddenly not so hungry anymore. He knew Jaime’s dad was right. He was being so selfish. Maybe he really was a bad influence… 

“No, it’s okay. I  _ offered _ to help him, dad. I’m getting all A’s right now, so it’s not hurting my grades at all. If anything, Bart’s been a  _ good _ influence on me.” Jaime said defensively. Then he turned his focus towards Bart. “Seeing how hard he’s working, and all the progress he’s been making is actually… really inspiring.” The way Jaime smiled at Bart when he said that made something tickle Bart’s insides. It was a feeling that Bart only really experienced around Jaime.

“Really?” Bart asked, biting his lip to keep his mouth from making the dopiest grin in the world.

“Of course.” Jaime answered, and he squeezed Bart’s hand under the table so no one could see. There were those belly tickles again. Bart felt like he was floating.

“Well, it’s - it’s only because you’re - ‘cause you’re - you’re such a great tutor.” Bart stuttered around his compliment, completely failing at hiding how giddy he was feeling. 

Jaime’s dad mumbled something under his breath in Spanish that Bart didn’t understand, and the atmosphere completely changed. That one muttered comment seized the floating feeling and brought it crashing down on the dinner table. 

Jaime’s mom immediately covered Milagro’s ears. “ _ Alberto _ !” Then she excused Milagro, Jaime and Bart from the table, but Jaime refused to leave. 

“No, whatever he has to say, he can say it in front of both of us, right dad?” Jaime stood up defensively. Bart was so confused, he still felt like he had whiplash from being yanked down to earth so quickly. 

_ “What are you doing with this boy, Jaime?”  _ Mr. Reyes responded in Spanish, thinking Bart wouldn’t understand, then he said something else that Bart actually didn’t understand. It had to have been an insult. Bart wanted to disappear into the chair, it took every bit of restraint he had to keep from bolting and running back home right then. 

“I’m sorry, maybe I should just-” Bart started, but Jaime interrupted before the ‘go.’ Apparently Bart was going to get stuck in the middle of this argument. 

“Nice, insult him in Spanish so he doesn’t understand, that’s real nice.” Jaime scoffed, “and I already told you, we’re friends. I’m allowed to have friends, aren’t I?”

_ “Bullshit. Why do friends need to have the door closed? You’re always with him when I call you. Too many times he stays late or stays the night. He flirts at you in front of everyone, you can’t deny he does that. And what was all that about just now, you both shamelessly saying those things right in front of me? I’m supposed to believe you don’t have feelings for this boy?”  _ More Spanish. Bart felt like he understood most of it this time, though.

Jaime was yelling now.  _ “What do you want from me? Do you want me to just go back into the closet and lie to you every day like I was before? I can do that. I can lie to you, dad. I don’t like boys and I don’t have feelings for Bart. Is that what you want me to say?” _ Jaime was speaking Spanish, now, too. Bart knew he wasn’t supposed to be understanding any of this, and it made him feel even more guilty, as if just being here during this conversation was another lie.

_ “I don’t want you to lie, I want you to stop making bad choices!”  _ Now they were both yelling.  _ “There is nothing stopping you from finding a nice girl, but instead you pull this shit. You are doing this just to spite me, is that what it is?” _

“ _ Basta _ !” Jaime’s mom shouted, slamming her fist on the table. She had tears in her eyes. “Jaime, go to your room. Bart, you go with Jaime.”

Jaime stormed off, not waiting for Bart to follow. Bart stood up, “um, thanksforlettingmecomeover andthanksfordinnerMrs.Reyes!” He said quickly before running to Jaime’s room about as fast as someone without superspeed could believably run.

“Jaime, are you okay?” Bart asked as soon as he got inside Jaime’s room. Jaime was sitting on his bed, shaking and huffing. 

“Hey, do me a favor, Bart?” Jaime ignored Bart’s question.

“Yeah, anything.” 

“Slam the door.” Jaime nodded at the door. “I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing it’s open.”

“Okay…” Bart reluctantly reached for the door and shut it loud enough that Jaime’s parents would hear it, but it wasn’t exactly the satisfying door slam that Jaime probably wanted, Bart was way too nervous for that. After shutting the door, he sat down on the edge of the bed next to Jaime. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, I didn’t think you were even gonna do it.” Jaime’s lips twitched upwards, but didn’t quite form a smile. 

“Not the door, I mean… your dad. I feel like that fight was kind of my fault.” Bart admitted. 

“It was his fault, not yours.” There was a bit of a sting in Jaime’s tone, but Bart knew it wasn’t directed at him. “I’m sorry that you got dragged into it.”

“You don’t have to apologize. Are you okay?” Bart asked again. 

Instead of answering, Jaime pulled Bart into a hug. 

Bart usually gave quick, super-tight hugs, but Jaime’s hugs were everything Bart’s weren’t. Jaime’s embrace was soft, and warm, the kind of hug you could sink into and get lost in. Bart tried to mirror Jaime’s energy as he wrapped his arms around and rubbed Jaime’s back for comfort. It was a while before Jaime pulled away to wipe the tears from his face. Bart hadn’t even realized Jaime was crying. The only other time Bart had seen Jaime cry was when he was in the watchtower ‘hospital.’ 

Jaime spoke before Bart could say anything else on the topic. “Can we talk about something else, please?” Jaime’s voice was even more gravelly than before from the yelling and crying. 

“Are you sure?” Bart asked. 

Jaime nodded. They both sat in silence for a few moments, not really knowing what topic to bring up. 

“So,” Jaime finally said, “what did you want to tell me before dinner?”

“Uhhh…” Bart didn’t want to lie anymore, but this didn’t exactly feel like the right time. 

“It’s ok. I want to know, and I’d rather talk about this than… you know.” Jaime said, and patiently waited for Bart to respond. Bart rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. He had trouble getting the words out.

“Okay… Whew, this is harder than I thought it would be.” Bart chewed on the inside of his cheek, and finally started. “I’ve been lying to you, Jaime. About a lot of stuff.” 

“Yeah, you mentioned that before. What are you lying about?” Jaime was looking down. He wiped his face again, and Bart was afraid that he might be holding back more tears.

Bart realized then that he just couldn’t make Jaime’s night any worse than it already was. Now definitely wasn’t the right time. Still, he’d dug himself in pretty deep, here. He had to confess to  _ something _ . 

“I, um, you remember when we studied at the library?”

“Yeah?” Jaime said, finally looking up at Bart, this was obviously not going where he’d expected it to.

“Well, I found out something there. I think I have a photographic memory. So, when I read those textbooks, all that Spanish stuff started making sense, and I’ve been understanding things a lot better since that day. And after that, I felt so much smarter than I usually do, because I was getting the answers right for once. You seemed so impressed with me that I didn’t want to tell you. I just… I guess I wanted you to think that I was smart. But I really just wasted your time. I’m sorry.” Bart got it all out super quickly. One secret down, two to go. 

“That’s it?” Jaime laughed for some reason.

_ ‘No _ ,’ Bart wanted to say, but stayed silent.

Jaime continued, “I thought you were going to tell me some life changing apocalyptic secret like last time. You didn’t have to pretend, though. You’re one of the smartest people I know.” 

“Really?” Bart tilted his head. That was news to him, and he had no idea why Jaime would think that. 

“You built a freaking time machine, didn’t you? I don’t know about you, but I don’t know of anyone else that can do that.” Jaime smiled. “Plus, are you telling me you just memorized every word of five different Spanish textbooks?” 

“Six. Yeah, I guess I did.” 

“Wow… I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You figured out how to go back in time, of course learning a second language is no big deal for you.” Jaime laughed again. “So, I guess you know more Spanish now than you’ve been letting on?” 

“Yeah. I still obviously have trouble with pronunciation and stuff, but I did kind of pretend to not know as much as I did after wednesday.”

“You know you don’t have to lie to impress me, right? I already think you’re, you know,  _ crash _ .” Jaime started, then his eyes widened and he interrupted himself, “Wait, how much did you get from that fight just now?”

“Um, not everything, but most of it.” Bart confessed. 

“Shit…” Jaime leaned his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his palms as realization hit him. “So… you heard what I said? That I… oh god…” Jaime trailed off and didn’t finish. 

“I don’t know, I think so? I thought you said… you said you lied about having feelings for me?” Bart turned to face Jaime. 

Jaime didn’t lift his face from behind the protection of his palms, but he nodded.

“So… you told him that you don’t have feelings for me. But that was… a lie?” Bart asked. That’s what he thought he heard, but he wasn’t quite sure. He figured if he didn’t ask, he’d never find out. 

This time it took a while before Jaime nodded again, still covering his face.  

“Well, that’s good,” Bart said nonchalantly, “because I’ve pretty much had a crush on you ever since I came here.” Two secrets down, one to go.

“What? You have?” Jaime finally looked up, revealing a huge smile on his face that Bart no doubt just put there.

_ “ _ ‘Course I have. _ ” _ Bart said with a cheesy grin. “You’re, like, the crashiest person I know.”

Jaime let out a little laugh, “thanks. You’re, um, the crashiest person I know, too.” 

Bart smiled. “So… what do you want to do, then?

Jaime’s smile dropped, “I’m not sure…”

“We could just… keep doing what we’re doing now, if you want?” Bart mindlessly took one of Jaime’s hands and started tracing his fingers along the lines on Jaime’s palm. “I know things are complicated with your dad right now, I don’t want to make anything worse.”

“My dad…” Jaime trailed off again. Then the two of them sat in silence for a moment. They’d been friends for so long, and just being around each other seemed to be enough for both of them all this time. Bart just didn’t want to lose Jaime, that was all that mattered to him right now. 

“I don’t know what to do…” Jaime’s voice was weak, almost a whisper. 

Just then, the door opened.

“Bart, mijo, do you need a ride home?” It was Jaime’s mom. 

“Oh, thanks but that’s okay, Mrs. Reyes. I live close,” Bart lied, “I’ll just walk.” 

“Are you sure?” Jaime asked, concerned about Bart walking back two days in a row. 

“Yeah, I’ll be okay.” Bart squeezed Jaime’s hand before leaving him to talk things out with his mom. 

 

…

 

Jaime woke up the next morning to his phone vibrating. It was a text from Bart, and it was already 9AM. 

“Khaji, what the hell? You didn’t wake me up?” Jaime whisper-yelled, since his throat was too raw to regular-yell. 

[You needed rest, Jaime Reyes. Attending school on this day would be unfavorable. Your professors have been emailed, and are aware of your absence. There are no homework assignments for the weekend.]

<Okay, but I’m fine.>

[Negative, Jaime Reyes. You need to rest.]

Jaime gave Khaji Da a literal side-eye, since he couldn’t quite look all the way back at him.

<I thought you said I couldn’t get sick?>

[You cannot. You are currently under immense stress. The only way to recover is to temporarily decrease stress levels. According to my research, it is called ‘self-care,’ Jaime Reyes. Rest is necessary.]

“Ugh, fine.” Jaime whispered. He didn’t have the energy to argue, and if he was being honest, he really did need a day off. Besides, it was hard not to appreciate the fact that Khaji Da was advocating for self-care.

Jaime got his phone and texted his parents to let them know he was staying home sick, then he remembered that Bart had texted him. 

_ Bart: Hey, how are you feeling? Was everything okay after I left?  _

_ Bart: Did you talk to your dad? _

Jaime sighed. Everything was not okay. He talked to his mom, not his dad. And according to his mom, his dad just ‘didn’t understand, but he was trying.’ Jaime knew that was an extremely sugar-coated version of whatever he’d really told her. She reassured Jaime that he would eventually come around, but Jaime somehow doubted that. After he talked to his mom, he heard them yelling for at least another hour. Jaime knew his dad would never be okay with him dating a boy. That was a hard thing to talk to Bart about, considering Bart was the boy that brought all of those feelings to the surface in the first place. 

_ Jaime: I didn’t talk to him. I’m not feeling too great. Still sick, so I’m staying home today.  _

Bart responded almost instantly. 

_ Bart: oh no :( I hope you feel better soon _

_ Jaime: thanks <3 _

Jaime realized then that today was the day Bart was taking his Spanish midterm. He might have even already taken it!

_ Jaime: Did you already take your midterm??? _

Bart’s responses were usually almost instant, so the lack of response for the next few minutes made Jaime worry a little. He really hoped Bart did well. 

Instead of a text, Jaime got a knock at the door. The knocking was way faster than a human without superspeed would be capable of, so he knew it was Bart. Jaime didn’t feel like getting up, though, and his throat was too raw for him to shout for Bart to come in. He decided to text him instead.

_ Jaime: don’t wanna get up just come in _

The next moment, Bart was inside Jaime’s room with his arms full of.. Stuff?

“What’s all that?” Jaime croaked. 

[Any attempt at speaking will worsen your condition, Jaime Reyes.] 

Bart rushed to Jaime’s side, and set some of the stuff down on his bed. 

“I know you said you had a headache and a sore throat before, so I brought you some stuff to help you feel better! I have dayquil, nyquil, some cough drops, ibuprofen, soup, tea, and some movies I like, just ‘cause I know staying home is moded and boring.” 

Jaime smiled and mouthed the words ‘thank you,’ then started to get up. 

“You don’t have to get up for me! You can keep napping if you want, I just wanted to drop this off for you. I can stay if you want some company, though.

Jaime got out his phone to respond.

_ Jaime: I can’t really talk. That was super nice of you to bring all that thank you :) Apparently it’s not that kind of sick, though. Khaji Da says it’s just stress and that I need rest. You can stay if you want :) _

“Oh, okay! Want me to get you some water or something?”

Jaime smiled and mouthed ‘please,’ and Bart was back in a split second with a glass of water. 

[Rest is necessary, Jaime Reyes, but some of the Bart Allen’s tactics would also be beneficial to your recovery.]

Jaime felt like the simple fact that Bart was  _ here _ was beneficial to his recovery. It was amazing how easy it was for Bart to make Jaime forget to stress. Bart didn’t have to come over, and yet he went out of his way to bring all this stuff just to make him feel better. Even though today was a huge day for Bart, he was focused on Jaime instead. Jaime fumbled to get his phone and text Bart about the midterm as soon as he remembered.

_ Jaime: I’m guessing you already took your midterm? How’d you do??? _

Bart glanced at Jaime from his phone. “Don’t worry about that right now.” 

_ Jaime: How can I not? This is basically the only thing we’ve been talking about for the last two weeks. Did you already take it? _

After reading Jaime’s text, Bart sat on the edge of the bed and blew air out of his mouth in frustration. Not a good sign. If Bart failed that test, Jaime couldn’t help but feel partially responsible. They didn’t even study yesterday.

Jaime started typing before Bart said anything. 

_ Jaime: it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to talk about it.  _

“I will tell you. But can I maybe just, tell you a little later?”

Jaime nodded. He felt like this had to do with something other than the midterm. 

 

...

 

Jaime and Bart decided to watch a movie and eat ice cream on the bed. As soon as Bart found out Jaime was burned out from stress and not bronchitis or something, he changed his healing regimen to ice cream, pudding, and romantic comedies - all of which were apparently Khaji Da approved for this occasion. Jaime was really liking Self-Care Khaji. 

Jaime dozed off within the first half hour of the movie, and Bart found himself being scooped up in a sleeping Jaime big spoon. Normally, Bart would have loved to be cuddled by Jaime, but Jaime was asleep right now, and he had his arms and legs wrapped around Bart in a way that made it impossible for Bart to move his own limbs. Plus, Jaime was way heavier than Bart expected, and he couldn’t even maneuver himself to be able to see the movie. At least, he couldn’t do that without running the risk of waking up Jaime, which Bart just didn’t have the heart to do. 

Still, Bart would take cuddling over not cuddling any day, especially with his current company. Jaime wasn’t usually as physically affectionate as Bart, so moments like these took Bart over the moon, regardless of how uncomfortable of a position he was stuck in. 

Bart resigned himself to holding still for an unknowable amount of time until Jaime woke up. He wasn’t tired at all himself, so, as usual, he distracted himself with his thoughts. 

He wondered if Jaime’s dad was going to be okay with them staying friends. He wondered if they would ever really be allowed to be anything other than that. He wondered if Jaime would even want to stay friends after he tells him that he lied about the midterm… 

Bart knew he had to tell Jaime soon. He told himself the night before that he wouldn’t lie to Jaime anymore, and he couldn’t avoid the conversation forever. He knew that the longer he waited, the worse it was going to get. He had to tell him. Today. 

But for now, Bart let himself enjoy the closeness while he still had it.

Towards the end of the movie, Jaime started to wake up. He yawned and stretched out, finally releasing Bart from his iron hold. Bart stretched out, too. He was feeling pretty stiff from staying in the same uncomfortable position for over an hour. Bart rolled over so he and Jaime were facing each other.

“Mmmorning..” Jaime whisper-yawned. 

“Woah, hello, morning breath.” Bart laughed. 

Jaime chuckled, he didn’t seem embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, he pulled Bart closer like he wanted another cuddle, only this time when he got close he opened his mouth to show off his terrible breath.

“Jaime, gross! Get away!” Bart giggled and tried to push himself away from the morning breath monster. Unfortunately, Morning Breath Jaime was even stronger than Sleeping Jaime, and Bart had no such luck getting free. He frantically threw his arm back and managed to grab a handful of cough drops from the night stand while Jaime laughed and pretended like he was about to give Bart a slobbery morning breath kiss. 

“No!  _ Noooo! _ ” Bart yelled dramatically. He knew Jaime was just joking, there was  _ no way _ he was going to try to kiss Bart for the first time with his breath smelling like that. Still, Bart couldn’t take the chance. He quickly got two of the cough drops unwrapped and shoved them in Jaime’s mouth. Bart’s hand was covering the lower half of Jaime’s face, but Jaime’s eyes said that he was obviously smiling. 

Jaime let go of Bart’s waist, and Bart dropped his hand from Jaime’s face. They both laughed. 

“You need to take a minute with the cough drops before you put your mouth near my face again!” Bart scolded, but he didn’t even try to hide his smile. 

Jaime responded by taking Bart’s hand up to his lips and kissing his palm. The simple kiss gave Bart goosebumps, and the fluttery feeling inside him was back. Then Jaime picked up his phone and got out of bed. Bart’s phone buzzed as Jaime left for the bathroom.

_ Jaime: Or... I could just brush my teeth :p _

After brushing his teeth, Jaime came back. Bart stayed laying in the bed, and reached out for Jaime like he wanted a hug. Jaime granted the nonverbal request by laying down and wrapping his arms around Bart. Bart half expected to get a real kiss from Jaime after he brushed his teeth, but he had no such luck.

Instead, they snuggled without speaking for a while, and Bart really couldn’t complain. They were both perfectly content with the silence and the closeness. Even with the current circumstances, and an unknown future for them, this all just felt like the most natural thing in the world. It felt as if they had been this close their whole lives. 

While they cuddled, Bart tried to convince himself to just make the move and kiss Jaime himself. All he had to do was take Jaime’s face in his hands and just…

Who was he kidding, Bart had no idea how kissing was supposed to work. He’d never done it before, and he was terrified of ruining it. He decided he could mess up their first kiss another time, maybe.

After a few minutes, Jaime took his phone out again. Bart did the same, knowing he would be getting a text from Jaime any second. 

_ Jaime: So… it’s later. Do you want to tell me what happened with the midterm? _

Bart starred at the text longer than he needed to. He couldn’t stall any longer. He took a deep breath and sat up. Jaime sat up, too. This had all been really,  _ really _ nice while it lasted. 

“There was no midterm.” He might as well get straight to the point, right?

“What?” Jaime’s voice came out raw, he was no longer trying to whisper. 

Bart started rambling, trying to explain himself. 

“Um, well, you know when I got hurt? You were yelling at me in Spanish, and I didn’t know what you were saying, and I know it sounds stupid, but I just got this idea that if I learned to understand Spanish, I might understand… well,  _ you _ , a little better, you know? And you weren’t supposed to find out, but you saw me studying! And I don’t have a secret ID or anything, and there’s no way I could get by in a regular school setting, so I don’t even go to school, but I couldn’t just tell you all that because it just looks weird and creepy to try to learn a language for your friend just because they sometimes speak Spanish and you want to hold a conversation with their grandma and impress their dad, right? So I made up the midterm, and then you were so nice and you wanted to help me and I couldn’t say no because I just really like hanging out with you and Rosetta Stone sucks!” 

Bart had to catch his breath after getting all that out. He looked pleadingly at Jaime, “I’m really, really, sorry, Jaime. It’s no excuse, I’m the worst, I’m so sorry!” 

Jaime just stared at Bart in shock. 

“Say something?” Bart pleaded. He knew Jaime couldn’t talk much, but he thought he would at least try to say  _ something _ . 

Just then, they both jumped at the sound of the garage door opening. 

“Is that your dad?” Bart asked. Jaime nodded frantically as he scrambled to get his phone.

Bart knew what Jaime was going to ask him to do: leave. So he ran away before Jaime got the chance to tell him to. 

 

…

 

Jaime leapt out of bed, grabbed all of the stuff Bart brought and threw it under the bed so his dad wouldn’t know someone was here. Then he jumped back in bed and pulled a blanket over himself, trying to look as sick as possible so his dad wouldn’t be mad that he stayed home. 

He knocked on Jaime’s door. 

“Come in.” Jaime said as loudly as he could manage. Luckily, his raspy voice made him sound a lot sicker than he was. 

The door opened, and Jaime’s dad walked in and sat at the foot of the bed without looking at Jaime. Jaime sat up and leaned against the wall, facing his dad, while his dad faced the rest of the room.

“I know you got a sore throat, so you don’t have to talk, just listen, alright?” Jaime’s dad glanced over at Jaime, and Jaime nodded.

It was a long while before he said anything else. “I’ll be straight with you, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around this whole ‘bisexual’ thing. I was raised real different, you know? I’m not gonna pretend like I understand what you’re doing, or what you’re going through right now, but I do know one thing… You’re my son, Jaime.” He paused to clear his throat. “I know we don’t say it very often, but I need you to know that I love you. I may not understand you, but I do love you, you… you know that, Jaime, don’t you?” 

He finally turned his head to look at Jaime, who swallowed and blinked back his tears. He definitely didn’t want his dad to see him cry right now. In this family, crying was done only behind closed doors. 

Jaime had a hard time responding to his dad’s question. The truth was, he had never really been sure of how his dad felt about him. He couldn’t even remember the last time his dad told him he loved him before now. 

Finally, Jaime shrugged in response, unable to answer ‘yes.’ His lip was quivering, but he refused to let those tears fall.

Jaime looked at his dad, and was surprised to see that his eyes were a little misty, too, and his jaw was clenched tight. Jaime had never seen his dad this close to tears before. “I’ll… I’ll do better.” Jaime’s dad nodded and swiftly left the room, closing the door on his way out.

It wasn’t until the door was closed that they both cried. 

 

…

 

Bart and Jaime didn’t speak to each other the next day. Bart was sure Jaime didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, so he gave him his space. Bart wanted nothing more than to reach out, just to see how Jaime was doing, but he knew that would only make things worse. 

Bart spent saturday binge watching Rebelde and overthinking about whether or not he should try to talk to Jaime. The show had him feeling extra sorry for himself and fantasizing about very unrealistic solutions to this problem. Unfortunately, life wasn’t like telenovelas. As nice as it would be, real life problems couldn’t always be solved by passionate declarations of love. 

Bart had to stop watching the show, because all the romance and drama just made him feel worse. He spent most of the next day in and out of depression naps. 

He had successfully alienated his only good friend. And Jaime was more than a good friend, more than a best friend. Everything Bart did, he did to get closer to Jaime, but somehow he ended up ruining all of that. All Bart wanted was for everything to be able to go back to normal between them, if that was at all possible. Bart doubted going back to normal was a viable option for them, and he hated himself for it. He wondered how long it might be before Jaime would want to even talk to him again.

Bart’s phone ringing brought him out of his thoughts for the first time that day. 

Jaime was calling him? 

Bart didn’t bother to overthink it. He answered his phone before the end of the first ring, not caring how desperate it might have made him look.

“Jaime? What’sgoingoniseverythingokay?”

“Nothing, I’m… really good, actually.” Jaime’s voice was only a tiny bit raspy now, almost back to normal.

“That’s good! You sound good.” 

“Hey, can I come over? I want to talk to you, you know, now that I can actually talk.” 

“Yeah, of course you can, Jaime! You mean right now? Not that that’s a problem! You can come over now if you want, or, like, any time. Whatever works for you.” Bart knew he must have sounded a little too eager, but he didn’t care.

“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.”

Then the phone disconnected, and no more than a minute later, Bart heard a knock at his bedroom window. He ran over and opened it so Jaime could climb through. 

As soon as Jaime was inside, Bart rushed into a hug without thinking, then he pulled away just as quickly. 

“I’m sorry, was that okay? I know you’re probably still mad, I shouldn’t have -”

“It’s fine, Bart. Come here.” Jaime pulled Bart back in so they could properly hug, and Bart  _ needed _ that hug. He immediately melted into it and forgot everything he was worried about, just for a moment. 

“What are you, a speedster now?” Bart asked when they pulled away. Even he couldn’t have made that distance so fast. 

“I was kind of already on my way when I called you.” Jaime admitted.

“Are you not mad at me?” Bart asked sheepishly after they both sat down on the bed with their backs against the wall.

“Honestly, I was. You kind of - I don’t know - you hurt my feelings, I guess. I just… I didn’t know you thought you needed an  _ excuse _ to hang out with me. I would have wanted to anyways, you didn’t have to lie. I kind of thought we could just, you know, hang out when we wanted to. But… Khaji Da told me I was being ‘irrational,’” Jaime chuckled, “and after I took some time to think, I realized I can’t be mad at you anymore…” His smile fell, “Bart, when you got hurt, I was so scared I was going to lose you. I’ve never been more scared of anything before. And I realized the last couple of days that I just… I can’t lose you. What you did was… it doesn’t even matter. I just don’t want to lose you.” Jaime sniffled and quickly wiped a potential tear before it got a chance to drip from his eye. 

Bart took Jaime’s hands in his own. “I don’t ever want to lose you either, Jaime. I’m so sorry.”

Jaime squeezed Bart’s hands in response, and they were both quiet for a moment before Jaime spoke up again. His eyes shined wet, but he was smiling. 

“After I thought about it, though, the fact that you wanted to learn Spanish for me is really sweet. I guess I could see why you might have wanted to lie about that. I mean, you still shouldn’t have,” Jaime let go of one of Bart’s hands to nudge his shoulder, “but I get it. I’m not mad anymore. But, please, no more lying, okay?” 

“Ohmygosh, really? Yes, of course! No more lying, I hated that so much, you have no idea how moded I was that whole time. I wanted to tell you every single day, Jaime, it was  _ torture _ .” 

“It’s funny, I actually knew you were lying about something. Khaji Da kept pointing it out. I just thought it was something a lot more serious, you know? I guess I’m really relieved now that I know you were just trying to find an excuse to learn my language.” Jaime laughed. 

“In my defense, I really really wanted free Spanish lessons with this one super cute tutor.” Bart smirked at Jaime, who was now blushing a little. 

“You’re ridiculous.” Jaime said.

Bart smiled. “Um, are we back to normal now? Is that a thing we can do?” Bart asked.

“I don’t really know what ‘normal’ is for us.” Jaime shrugged. “And I’m not sure I want to go backwards. We’re okay, though. I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I’ve really missed you.” 

“I missed you, too.” Bart smiled and let himself lean on Jaime’s shoulder.

“Can I tell you something?” Jaime said.

“Anything.” 

“My dad apologized to me. He, um… he told me I can date whoever I want.”

Bart lifted his head from Jaime’s shoulder and turned to face him. “Really? That’s amazing!” 

“I know.” Jaime smiled again and turned towards Bart so they were both facing each other. “I  _ really _ like you, Bart.”

“I really like you, too, Jaime! I get all fluttery in here when I’m around you, I like you so much!” Bart gestured towards his belly and made a tickling motion with his fingers to show Jaime what he meant.

“You mean butterflies?” Jaime laughed, “I, um, I get those with you, too, actually.” Jaime bit his lip to keep his grin under control. Bart, on the other hand, made no such attempt, and he was smiling wide enough for his cheeks to hurt.

“Huh, butterflies.” Bart smiled. So that’s what the feeling was called. He could get used to those. 

“Yeah,” Jaime grinned, “do you have a different name for them in the future?”

“Tummy tickles?” Bart shrugged, “That’s just what I’ve been calling it. No one ever talked about that kind of thing where I’m from, and I never felt it until - well, until you."

They both blushed. Jaime smiled. 

_ God, that smile was so cute.  _

Neither of them realized that they had both been progressively leaning closer to each other throughout the conversation. By the time Bart noticed, their faces were almost touching. Bart leaned just a tiny bit closer, so their foreheads were touching, his next words came out softly, almost a whisper. “So, do you know what you want to do, now?”

Without hesitation, Jaime ran his fingers through Bart’s hair and let his hand rest at the back of Bart’s neck. 

“Definitely.” They were so close that Bart could feel Jaime’s whisper tickle his lips.

They both closed their eyes and the space in between them. 

Jaime had never kissed a boy before, and Bart had never kissed anyone. Bart expected his first kiss to be a bit more awkward, because he wasn’t the type of person who had those magical telenovela style first kisses. But he was wrong. It was perfect.

The kiss only lasted about a second, but Bart still felt dizzy when it was over, like he was on some kind of Jaime high. When they pulled away, Bart covered his mouth, barely stifling a childish giggle. 

But he heard one anyway, because it didn’t come from Bart. 

It didn’t matter how suave they may have felt going into the kiss, they both  _ giggled  _ coming out of it. Sometimes, gut reactions betray a person. One can only fake being smooth for so long, and these two had already promised each other ‘no more lying,’ so here they were, truthfully giggling. 

Bart laughed with his hand still covering his mouth, and Jaime leaned forward, as if going in for another kiss. He grinned and kissed the back of Bart’s hand, bringing attention to the fact that the hand was the only thing in the way of their lips meeting again. Then Jaime gently took Bart’s hand in his own, and gave it a few more sweet kisses. 

Bart let himself fall so that he was laying down, as if he had literally just melted, which he felt like he had. He pulled the comforter up over his face. “Oh my  _ god _ , that was really cute.” Bart said, another giggle slightly muffled by the blanket. 

Jaime laughed and pulled the blanket away from Bart’s face. Bart sat back up with a smile, and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. His _ boyfriend.  _

“So, um…” Bart rested his cheek in the space between Jaime’s neck and shoulder as he spoke, “just making sure… but, uh, I can call you my boyfriend now, right?”

“I mean, that’s kind of what I was hoping for.” 

“So, you’re my  _ boyfriend _ .” Bart said, just to say it. And damn, was it crash to say. 

Jaime looked down to kiss the top of Bart’s head. Unfortunately, this happened at the same time that Bart moved his face to look up at Jaime, so Jaime ended up accidentally kissing Bart’s left eye. Bart jumped slightly at the unexpected eyeball kiss before they were both overcome by another fit of giggles. There seemed to be a bit of a learning curve to this ‘boyfriend’ thing.

“I’m sorry!” Jaime was barely able to get out between laughs, and Bart was laughing too hard to answer. They automatically fell into an embrace, holding each other as if it might steady their violently spastic diaphragms. 

Bart’s sides started hurting from laughter, his cheeks were sore from smiling, and he couldn’t remember a time when he was more content. 

Once they calmed down and caught their collective breath, Bart laid down with his head in Jaime’s lap. He let out a happy sigh and looked up at  _ his boyfriend _ . Jaime smiled down at him and ran his fingers through Bart’s hair. 

Bart could fall asleep like this. Even with the learning curve, some things still felt as natural as could be. Bart felt like he could look at Jaime forever, he could do  _ this _ forever, and he hoped things would never go back to ‘normal.’  
  


.

.

.

.

.

.

Gracias a dios - thank god

Compa- friend

ten cuidado - be careful

Maestro- teacher

Mucho gusto - nice to meet you

En la- at the

Te gustas Rebelde?- do you like Rebelde? (a telenovela)

Mijo - my son/child

está bien - it’s okay

Me estás escuchando? - are you listening to me?

Despiértate- wake up

Espero que te diviertas - have fun

Oye, ¡que buen trabajo! - hey, what a good job!

Carnal - kind of like buddy, friend, mate

Cabron - dumbass

Coger -  in most countries is ‘to pick up,’ but in mexico is to have sex

Estás listo? - are you ready?

Por qué está cerrada la puerta- why is the door closed?

Tonto- silly

‘Sta bien, mijo - it’s okay, son

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first attempt at a slow burn so I hope it wasn't terrible. It's also by far my longest one-shot, and I spent way too long working on it, so if you liked it please don't be afraid to leave a comment because that will make me feel a lot better about myself lol
> 
> also feel free to talk to me on [tumblr](https://khaki-da.tumblr.com/) :)


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